Female drivers more likely to be hurt in crashes

Jason Hallman, senior manager for the Collaborative Safety Research Center at Toyota Motor North America R&D in Ann Arbor, Mich., is studying data with a goal of achieving equity in crash testing.

“When we talk about crash safety in particular and the research that we’re doing there, we’re looking at the existing crash data and understanding the gaps in that data with regard to who’s getting the most protection and maybe some areas that are opportunities for future improvement,” he said.

Hallman, a 10-year Toyota veteran with a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Marquette University, conducted postdoctoral research in injury biomechanics at the Medical College of Wisconsin’s department of neurosurgery. “I specifically sought out a graduate degree in biomedical engineering looking at how the bumps and the forces and accelerations … and how that translates to their probability of sustaining a particular injury,” he said.

While the NHTSA data shows differences in crash outcomes for men and women drivers, identifying the key risk factors for injuries and fatalities has proven to be a challenge.

Hallman said the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, NHTSA and others “have spent a lot of time digging into these trends, particularly over the last several years, and found some interesting things beyond even anatomical or physiologic differences between men and women.”